Long term care insurance?

[Hyacinth]

Have you looked into it for yourself or your spouse? 
If so, did you decide to purchase it?

 

[TexasProud]

Yes. We both have it.

[catz]

Yes, we have it.

[datgh]

I have read that if you will have between $500,000 and 1.5 million at retirement you should get it. Below $500,000 you can't  afford it and over $1.5 million you don't need it. We recently purchased a combination of Life Insurance and Long Term Care Insurance. It's a newer hybrid that they are offering. It is more expensive than regular long term care insurance but we felt it was worth it. The way it works is you are guaranteed a certain amount that you can use to pay for your nursing home care, etc. and whatever is left when you pass goes to your heirs. If you never require care, than your heirs get the whole amount. Think of it as investing in your kids futures. With just long term care insurance if you die without needing care, the money you paid for the insurance is never seen again.

 

Edited March 5, 2021 by datgh

[Hyacinth]

34 minutes ago, datgh said:

I have read that if you will have between $500,000 and 1.5 million at retirement you should get it. Below $500,000 you can't  afford it and over $1.5 million you don't need it. We recently purchased a combination of Life Insurance and Long Term Care Insurance. It's a newer hybrid that they are offering. It is more expensive than regular long term care insurance but we felt it was worth it. The way it works is you are guaranteed a certain amount that you can use to pay for your nursing home care, etc. and whatever is left when you pass goes to your heirs. If you never require care, than your heirs get the whole amount. Think of it as investing in your kids futures. With just long term care insurance if you die without needing care, the money you paid for the insurance is never seen again.

 

I just read an article that said it makes sense for those with retirement savings between $200K and $1M. 

[Bootsie]

We have looked into it.  We decided in our particular situation it did not seem to make financial sense.  Insurance, on average, is not going to be a financial benefit; it is simply risk protection.  The insurance company cannot afford to charge less in premiums than what they think they will be paying out.  

[Spryte]

I’ll just give a LTC success story, in case anyone wants to hear it.  My ILs have lived on their LTC insurance for seven years.  In our state, Medicaid does not pay anything toward assisted living, and their pension was not enough to cover that cost (HCOL here). But their LTC coverage made it so they could live in a facility together.  They are now both in nursing homes, and LTC coverage is running out, so transitioning to Medicaid in the next year or so. 
 

Without assisted living, they’d have had to move in with us.  So big fan of LTC insurance here.

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

Where are you all finding your LTC insurance?

I’ve googled but half it it looked scammy.  We’re set to have around a million, maybe a little more, at retirement age; but I am highly likely to need assisted living at some point and would rather not drain our savings then.

[Laura Corin]

I'm envious. The LTC insurance market collapsed in the UK and it's no longer available. 

My mother bought a care annuity at the point of going into a care home to make sure she would never run out of money for the fees. The banks make money because many people decline quickly after they enter a home. She has already outlived the average life of two years.

[Hyacinth]

4 hours ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle said:

Where are you all finding your LTC insurance?

I’ve googled but half it it looked scammy.  We’re set to have around a million, maybe a little more, at retirement age; but I am highly likely to need assisted living at some point and would rather not drain our savings then.

Ha! “Scammy” concerns are exactly why I asked. I know several reputable financial experts who advise buying LTC. But the two licensed agents we talked to both had Herb Tarlek-like vibes. (Anyone too young to get that reference probably doesn’t need LTC coverage yet 😉.)

The one we’re making the application with sent a direct mailer (generally known as junk mail), and we followed up for more information because it was on our radar anyway. He represents many companies, including Mutual of Omaha, which is the one we’re pursuing. 

[Pawz4me]

5 hours ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle said:

Where are you all finding your LTC insurance?

I’ve googled but half it it looked scammy.  We’re set to have around a million, maybe a little more, at retirement age; but I am highly likely to need assisted living at some point and would rather not drain our savings then.

Our investment advisor says that most of the companies who used to offer LTC have stopped. They couldn't make much/any money on it, so they've stopped offering it (see @Bootsie's post above). He's mentioned several alternatives, including the hybrid life insurance that @datghmentioned. He said that some existing policies can be converted to that type, but we haven't checked yet to see if ours can.

[J-rap]

I've been looking into getting it myself, but haven't done much about it yet.  But my mother has it.  (My dad chose not to get it.)  I think she paid into hers for around 25 years, and was admitted into a LTC setting about a year and a half ago.  She has Transamerica LTC insurance.  It was very, very difficult to get it to start paying out.  It probably took 6 months of my poor dad filling out form after form and calling them every other day, never being able to talk to the same person, always being told he hadn't yet turned in enough information, turning in the same information several times because they seemed to keep losing it??..   It was really terrible.  He finally hired an eldercare attorney and through them, he was finally able to get Transamerica to start paying.  

My parents happened to have great health insurance that is completely covering my mother's expenses at a very nice care center, for two years.  But, it is for a double room only.   The amount Transamerica pays out is enough to bump my mother into a single room.  That is, it pays the difference between a double and single room.  That's been great for my dad because he spends every afternoon with my mother and it's really nice they can have their own space.

 

Edited March 5, 2021 by J-rap

[Sunshine State Sue]

13 hours ago, datgh said:

I have read that if you will have between $500,000 and 1.5 million at retirement you should get it. Below $500,000 you can't  afford it and over $1.5 million you don't need it.

 

12 hours ago, Hyacinth said:

I just read an article that said it makes sense for those with retirement savings between $200K and $1M. 

Thank you!  This makes me feel better.  Interesting that our financial planner didn't share any information like that.

Our financial planner suggested it over and over for a while.  I did not like the idea of paying monthly for years and years for something I may never need.  Or might involve a lot of red tape and an elder attorney to get when I did need it.  From my research, I learned that many LTC companies raised rates and/or paid less than promised.  And if they raise rates regularly, you are screwed.  Either keep paying or all that money would be gone.

We chose to sock the money away ourselves.  Every time we visit our financial planner and she tells me how much money I'll die with, I say that's my LTC insurance.

Edited March 5, 2021 by Sunshine State Sue

[Beth S]

Dh and I will likely use our home equity to fund our LTC.

His folks have Allianz LTC insurance, which they paid $6K annually for 20 years or so.
Agreeing with PP, it took nearly a year for the company to finally begin paying the monthly reimbursements.
They paid retroactively back to the time they determined LTC was needed.
It was a very precise definition, and after just 6 months of payments, we already have to submit renewal documentation.
Obviously they are trying to avoid fraudulent claims.
But we have spent hours and hours of our time figuring out what paperwork was required next.

To clarify, we are very grateful for the monthly LTC reimbursements for both his parents.
$100K so far . . . but that means we're not at the breakeven point yet.
It is very much not FREE money.
In hindsight, we would have hired an eldercare attorney, and someone to oversee the finances.
We have DIYed it all, which became a 10 hr per week part-time job for me.  Not kidding.

Dh and I could not have cared for them in our home.

We would not want our kids to have to go thru the LTC claim process on our behalf.
We have updated our Wills this month, and will train our kids what to do when we begin to decline.
Our goal is to make it easier on our kids!

Edited March 5, 2021 by Beth S